


Far Away, Close Enough

by River_of_Dreams



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Angst, But mostly fluff, First Date, First Kiss, Fluff, M/M, space travel, technically also Dean but he has only one line in the fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-31
Updated: 2015-10-31
Packaged: 2018-04-29 03:09:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,972
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5113865
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/River_of_Dreams/pseuds/River_of_Dreams
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In which Gabriel gets what he wants because Sam won't let him get anything less.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Far Away, Close Enough

**Author's Note:**

  * For [GreyMichaela](https://archiveofourown.org/users/GreyMichaela/gifts).



> For greymichaela, who is not only incredibly talented but also one of the genuinely kindest and most supportive people I know, and for all the regular and irregular visitors of her Tumblr, the amazing bunch feeding us all fics and ficlets and headcanons and being nice to each other.  
> I’ve wanted to write something for that crowd for a while. Here it finally is.
> 
> As usual, warning for a non-native speaker. Any sort of feedback, including nitpicking, very much welcome. Trolls will be equipped with a tracker and gently released back into their habitat because in my experience, they are a very rare species around AO3.

“Why do you never bring up that you nearly died for us?“

The question just falls out of Sam one late evening before he can make the conscious decision to ask it or swallow it. It’s just the two of them in the room, Dean and Castiel having left to do whatever it is they do together on their rare free evenings, and Gabriel gives him a suddenly intense look.

He should look ridiculous, with half a slice of pizza hanging from his mouth – the last slice he wheedled out of Dean in exchange for the scratches he had fixed on the Impala that one time a ghost drove them off the road in the middle of a forest.

But that’s the point. Gabriel isn’t a magnanimous guy. Sooner or later he always brings up the things he did for them, haggling for favors or outright telling them they can’t afford to throw him out of the team. He never uses the same thing twice; never asks for anything without pointing out his efforts. But the two things that really make them intebted to him in Sam’s book, confronting Lucifer and stabilizing Cas’s stolen Grace, those two never come up.

Gabriel chews slowly, swallows, his gaze never leaving Sam’s.

“And what would I ask for with that?“

Sam blinks. “Well… pretty much anything.“ He frowns. “It’s not as if you match a thing to whatever it is you ask for. You got into the Bunker by pointing out that you sometimes bring us breakfast, and then you used up saving my life when you wanted to stay the night in our motel room.“

Gabriel lifts a finger.

“One – I bring you damn good breakfasts. And you were going to let me in anyway at that point. Two – that wasn’t a big deal for me, Samshine. Just a little fix job. I didn’t risk anything. I didn’t even join the fight for you. And Dean hates it when someone stares at him the whole night.“ He smirks. “Well, someone who isn’t Cas. I needed to remind him he can trust me with your lives.“

Put like that, it makes a lot of sense – but so does Sam’s original question.

“So why do you never bring up the real big stuff?“

For several seconds it seems Gabriel won’t answer, won’t even acknowledge the question. Then he shrugs:

“Because the things big enough to repay those would be worthless if I had to haggle for them.“

And Sam just stares at him, momentarily floored.

He got used to piecing together meanings behind Gabriel’s deflections.

He didn’t expect a full, honest answer from him.

Gabriel’s lips quirk up. “So, I guess you’ll have to consider those a freebie.“

Sam shakes his head, not fooled by the flippant tone, and considers it for a while. Gabriel hums to himself and finishes his hard-won slice of pizza.

Sam swallows, which is enough for Gabriel’s eyes to cut back to him, shrewd and a little wary.

“What do you want?“

Gabriel frowns.

“I just told you-“

“Not in exchange,” Sam clarifies. “Just because you’re… you.“

The trickster archangel snorts.

“Not to try to kill me anytime soon? Come on, Sam. I know you haven’t forgotten all the shit I’ve dragged you through.“

Sam shakes his head again, more energetically. “I haven’t forgotten. But… that’s not what I’m talking about. You’ve helped us, too. You’re actually a pretty great guy, most of the time. So, yeah. I haven’t forgotten. I just like you anyway. So I want to know if there’s anything-“

He stops when Gabriel waggles his eyebrows at him.

“ _Like_ \- like me?“

Sam sputters, reddening.

“That’s what I thought,“ Gabriel comments, and vanishes with a snap.

 

It takes Sam five days to realize that maybe Gabriel wasn’t mocking him for the developing crush he’s been desperately hiding from the archangel for the past two months. If he was, he’d tease him about it some more.

If he was, he wouldn’t run.

On the sixth day, he starts to be nervous. Sure, six days aren’t anywhere near the upper limit of how long Gabriel usually stays away, but if he for some reason thinks he revealed too much-

On the eighth day, Gabriel comes back the same as always, one part help, one part jokes, one part charm and three parts bullshit. He mostly focuses on Dean, which is nothing new because Dean gives as good as he gets, but Sam soon notices that while Gabriel glances at him often, he never keeps the eye-contact once Sam looks back.

As becomes apparent within the first few visits afterwards, he also absolutely refuses to stay alone with Sam now, always finding something better to do.

Sam watches him, a plan slowly forming in his mind.

It takes nearly inhuman reflexes to catch Gabriel one day in the Bunker between Dean announcing a supply run and Gabriel inevitably vanishing.

“Um, Gabriel? Do you think you could help me with this one translation in the meantime? It’s some strange version of Phoenician, I think.“

Gabriel hesitates, his fingers already poised for a snap.

“I don’t know,“ he draws. “Translations are boring. Why do you never want anything interesting? Now if you wanted a trip to Mars-”

“Alright,“ Sam agrees readily and has the pleasure of seeing Gabriel blink at him, uncomprehending.

“Alright?“

“Yeah. Mars sounds good, too. As long as you make sure I survive it, we can take a look at the translation later.“

Gabriel considers him more thoroughly, his hand falling to his side. “You realize I’ll really do it, right?“

Sam can’t help the smile that starts tugging the corners of his lips upwards. “Sure.“

Gabriel glances to Dean as if hoping for some measure of common sense. Dean only mock glowers at him.

“You better take him back till ten, you hear me?“

Gabriel opens his mouth like a suffocating fish, then closes it and grins, getting back his bearings.

“Okay, you pick an hour, I pick a century.“ He lifts his hand again, pauses, shakes his head and walks the few steps to Sam, pressing two fingers against his forehead.

Sam gasps at the familiar vertigo of angel flight, the rushing sound of wings filling his ears. He braces himself for the touchdown – which doesn’t come. Not yet, at least, Mars being considerably further away than any place on Earth.

He has the time to _feel_ Gabriel, something immense and impossible but warm like a fluffy comet dragging him along, which doesn’t even make sense and Sam really hopes Gabriel isn’t reading his mind because he’d never hear the end of it.

Then the sensation of movement stops, as does the sound of wings, but they must be still flying, because he still feels weightless.

“For the full experience of your trip, we recommend opening your eyes,“ Gabriel proclaims brightly, sounding like a professional tour guide. It’s enough to surprise Sam into blinking up at him.

What he sees takes his breath away.

Gabriel is smiling at him, merriment twinkling in his eyes, and behind him stars are blazing bright all across the sky- No, all across the space.

Stunned, he takes a long while to take in his surroundings.

Mars is a red orb turning lazily deep beneath his feet, alien and majestic.

Gabriel… Gabriel is floating at an angle slightly above him, his fingertips now resting against his shoulder, so ligthly it’s hard to tell the touch is really there; so lightly it seems he has to float away any second now. He never does, instead smiling more and more broadly with every passing moment.

“Are we in orbit?“ Sam manages. Which may not be the best first words to say under the circumstances, but it makes Gabriel grin even wider.

“Yep.“

Sam swallows, indulging for just a little while in the sights around him. But even competing with those wonders, he still ends up drawn by Gabriel, by the joy in his face, by his closeness.

He finds himself grinning as well and can’t find it in himself to mind.

“Not bad for a first date.“

Gabriel sputters and has to grab Sam’s shoulder to not lose contact, and turnabout is a beautiful, beautiful thing.

“Who said anything about a date?“ He’s getting twitchy; if they were anywhere else, he’d probably vanish again. Sam is suddenly glad they’re in space, far from anywhere Gabriel could conveniently leave him, but he reaches for his waist anyway, just in case, and waits to catch Gabriel’s gaze.

“I like – like you,“ he manages in all solemnity, and he would laugh at the way Gabriel glowers at him if there wasn’t so much hurt and suspicion in that frown.

“I want this to be a date,” he adds more softly and draws Gabriel closer.

There’s nothing fun anymore in how tense Gabriel looks now, even though he wraps his legs around Sam and locks his ankles at the small of his back as if it was the only natural course of action.

“Don’t,“ he warns, and even in the utter silence around them it sounds quiet, more quiet than Gabriel ever is.

“Don’t what? Want you? Want to get to know you? Want to keep you in my life? Too late.“

“I’m not a good guy, Sam. You think you know but you don’t know the half of it.“

“But you are. You try to help. You have compassion, you-“

Gabriel barks a laugh. “I really don’t.“

Sam shakes him, just a little, and it’s a really weird feeling in zero gravity but he can’t afford to be distracted by it. “You gave Dean back to me because I asked. Do you have any idea what that did to me? I thought you were a monster and you took pity on me. You let me off the hook. Do you have any idea how much hope that gave me? How much faith that no matter how hopeless everything seems, there might be some speck of goodness in an unexpected place that just might save the world? And you did. You helped us. You’ve dealt with the worst of humanity for centuries and you risked everything for us. So don’t tell me you’re not a good guy.“

“You still have nightmares,“ Gabriel points out, his voice flat, and Sam’s hands tighten on his waist.

“I have nightmares about everything, Gabriel. I’m a hunter. I’ve been possessed, tortured, I’ve lost way too many people-“ He takes a deep breath, forces himself to leave that train of thought. “But when I wake up and you’re there, it’s easier to- You take my mind away from the nightmares, from everything that’s happened. You make me laugh.”

Gabriel quirks a small smile. “Cheesy.”

But the doubt in his expression is slowly giving way to warmth and Sam will take it for the victory it is.

“True,” he counters. “Gabriel, I want to keep you. I want to spend more time with you, and I want to-“

Slowly, he trails his palms up Gabriel’s sides and watches his eyes go dark. For just a second, he drinks in the impossibility of him, this vast being of pure power folded into the body of a man, celestial and feral at once, his honey-colored hair floating around his head like a halo on the backdrop of a field of stars.

But he’s also Gabriel, his Gabriel, and the sound he makes when Sam breaks apart the halo with his fingers and draws him in for a kiss is small and desperate and wonderfully, perfectly human.

Gabriel is warm and clingy and nimble and tastes of storms and infinity and the caramel cookies he ate just a few minutes ago and Sam loves the angel-pagan-human paradox of him with all he is.

They aren’t back till ten.


End file.
